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18 April 2005
We want Billy Burge as a speaker!
The Harris County-Houston Sports Authority's website isn't terribly exciting or interactive, but I still check it periodically in case something catches my eye. Well, now the Sports Authority has placed a notice about Oliver Luck being available for speaking engagements in a big blue box:
Harris County-Houston Sports Authority CEO Oliver Luck is available to speak to Houston-area organizations on a number of sports in business topics. Topics he is comfortable addressing include:
* The Sports Authority -- past, present and future
* Mission Accomplished--Where do we go from here?
* Sports Venues -- The changes in security since 9/11
* Houston as a sports destination
* Will Houston support professional soccer?
* Economic Impact of 3 major new sports venues in Houston and more.
(emphasis added)
Forget Oliver Luck -- we want Billy Burge as a speaker!
RELATED: Billy Burge: THE best reason to shut down the Sports Authority! (blogHOUSTON)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 04/18/05 10:03 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (0)
26 June 2005
Sports Authority finds another project to keep itself busy
The Sports Authority has a notice posted about its next board meeting, scheduled for Tuesday, June 28. Let's see if there's anything interesting on the agenda:
6. Discussion and possible action on resolution approving an agreement with Houston YET Center, Inc. for the development of youth, educational and recreational facilities at Finnigan Park and approving other matters related thereto.
7. Discussion and possible action on resolution approving an agreement with Hermes Architects to serve as the architect for the YET Center and approving other matters related thereto.
Sigh. That would be the NFL's Youth Education Town.
It's time to revisit the Sports Authority's mission statement:
The Harris County-Houston Sports Authority, “The Sports Authority” is charged with the responsibility of rejuvenating the infrastructure for our community’s professional sports as well as the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.
It doesn't say anything about developing youth, educational and recreational facilities, even for the NFL.
RELATED: Billy Burge: THE best reason to shut down the Sports Authority! (bH), Uh oh: Sports Authority still working on Major League Soccer deal (bH)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ Sports Authority finds another project to keep itself busy"> 06/26/05 08:47 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (0)
27 October 2009
Chron: Sports Authority may still need a public bailout
THE CHRON'S BRADLEY OLSON follows up on his earlier reporting today by noting that the Harris County Sports Authority is still on a financial course that could lead to a bailout from taxpayers.
Officials with the organization continue to deny that this is the case.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ Sports Authority may still need a public bailout"> 10/27/09 08:51 AM | General | Technorati | Comments (2)
29 August 2007
Dolcefino and the Sports Authority - Part 2
The second part of Wayne Dolcefino's look at the Houston Sports Authority aired last night.
Last night's topic was the Rockets' expensive, money-losing parking garage. Here's an excerpt:
Toyota Center in the heart of downtown is home to a chunk of the huge debt we have because we have built sports stadiums across our city. But we didn't just build a stadium for Les Alexander and his teams.
You built the Toyota Center parking garage next door. And if you want to see your tax dollars going down the drain, just enter there. You know how much money the Toyota garage has lost since it opened in 2003? We found it lost $1.2 million.
"We have a situation where the sports authority collects very little of the revenue, yet pays the lion's share of expenses," said CPA Bob Martin.
The Rockets pay the expenses and keep all the money made on game days, but you pay expenses to operate the garage the rest of the time -- a virtually empty garage.
"We've been unable during the day to get anybody to park there," said Billy Burge with the Houston Sports Authority.
Look at the receipts on one day, they totaled just $14.00. But under the lease, the sports authority inked with the Rockets, the garage has to stay open and staffed, even for a handful of Rockets executives to park there.
Dolcefino promises he'll have more on the Sports Authority tonight.
Why does this entity still exist?
BLOGVERSATION: Lose an Eye, It's a Sport.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ Sports Authority - Part 2"> 08/29/07 08:39 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (24)
21 November 2005
Goodbye Oshman's; Hello Sports Authority
The Houston Business Journal's Allison Wollam reports that a longtime Houston merchant was rebranded over the weekend:
The last trace of Houston retail institution Oshman's Sporting Goods Inc. was erased last weekend as the 86-year-old retailer was taken out of the local retail game.
Englewood, Colo.-based The Sports Authority Inc., which inherited Oshman's through its 2003 merger with Gart Sports Co., has converted all nine Oshman's stores in the Houston area to The Sports Authority.Oshman's was founded in Richmond in 1919 and had grown into a publicly traded company -- which was still run by the Oshman family -- when it was sold to Denver-based Gart for $84 million in 2001.
Gart had maintained the Oshman's name during its ownership period.
Tony Patino, district manager for The Sports Authority, says the company did away with the Oshman's name in order to create a national brand.
[snip]
The product mix will remain the same, although the exercise, team sports and golf departments will be enhanced, according to Patino.
John Horan, publisher of industry newsletter Sporting Goods Intelligence, says the removal of regional brands such as Oshman's is a good strategic move by The Sports Authority, which is the largest sporting goods chain in the country.
"It makes a lot of sense," he says. "From the marketing and promotional standpoint alone, it's certainly an advantage to operate under one brand."
Dick's Sporting Goods has already pushed into the Dallas suburbs, and Houston will likely follow at some point. The Sports Authority surely felt it had to bring Oshman's under its main brand before Dick's moves into town.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ Sports Authority"> 11/21/05 09:42 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (4)
01 November 2009
Right, and new revenue streams are never about the money....
IN RESPONSE TO RECENT NEGATIVE NEWS COVERAGE FROM THE CHRONICLE AND BLOOMBERG, Sports Authority Chief J. Kent Friedman took to the Chron editorial page today to repeat, again, that taxpayers won't be on the hook for any shortfalls at the Sports Authority. If you just repeat it enough times...
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/01/09 07:54 PM | General | Technorati | Comments (2)
27 August 2007
Shut down the Sports Authority (cont'd)
On tonight's 10pm broadcast, KTRK-13's Wayne Dolcefino took a closer look at the Houston Sports Authority's nice suite at Minute Maid Park.
It looks as if Dolcefino has more interesting reports lined up for the rest of the week.
We'll suggest once again that it's time to shut down the Sports Authority, which has fulfilled its purpose of constructing three major new sports facilities and serves no useful public purpose today.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ Sports Authority (cont'd)"> 08/27/07 11:04 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (27)
07 April 2005
Shut down the Sports Authority and save $40 million
The Chronicle's editorial board would like to see the Houston Sports Authority stay in business:
Shuttering the agency sounds simple but overlooks the complexities of servicing more than a billion dollars in stadium bonds and seeing that the public's property is well-maintained. There are also sports projects that could use the expertise of Sports Authority staff, including efforts to build community centers where young people can swim and play sports.
The Sports Authority should stay intact to build community centers? The editorial also says the the Authority has a "continuing role to play in attracting premiere events such as the Super Bowl and new teams, including soccer and ice hockey." Well, I don't see that in its mission statement; and anyway, we already have the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau. Put Jordy Tollett to work handling sports promotion, in addition to his other promotion duties.
Tom Kirkendall addressed the Sports Authority issue the other day:
After spending a total of $1.036 billion to build all three stadiums, the Authority voted to sell another $37 million in bonds last summer to induce the investment rating agencies not to downgrade the bonds from investment grade to junk. The additional bond revenue was needed to make up for lagging hotel and car rental tax revenues that are dedicated to pay the bond debt.
The sports authority has about a $3 million operating budget, about half of which is dedicated to contractual obligations and professional fees that either the city or county would have to pay even if the authority were dissolved. However, the bonds are amortized over 30 years, so saving $1.5 million a year over that period is not chump change.
I'd trust Kirkendall's opinion ANY day over the opinion of the Chronicle's editorial board.
Here's what Paul Bettencourt said this afternoon on KSEV-700: the money that could be saved by dissolving the Sports Authority -- over the course of 30 years -- would cover the revenue shortage that forced the Sports Authority to sell more bonds last year. That should be reason enough to end the Authority. He also pointed out that we have a problem getting rid of government entities that have fulfilled their missions.
The Sports Authority's mission has been fulfilled; the three venues are completed. It's time to dissolve it.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ Sports Authority and save $40 million"> 04/07/05 04:59 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (1)
10 October 2005
County official recommends downsizing Sports Authority
A while back, Harris County Commissioners Court asked a county official to look at the Sports Authority and recommend what should be done with it. The Chronicle's Bill Murphy has the story:
Staff and operations at the Harris County Sports Authority, created to oversee the construction of the city's new pro sports venues, should be reduced, but not dissolved, a county official says.
Since construction has been completed, the authority has aided efforts to bring more attractions to the venues — a marketing responsibility best left to other groups, said Dick Raycraft, county director of management services.
"I don't think the authority needs to be running around marketing for events," he said Friday.
That argument -- that the Sports Authority fulfills a marketing role -- is one of the reasons Sports Authority CEO Oliver Luck has given for why the entity should not be dismantled. But that reason is not within the purview of the Sports Authority. The other reason Luck likes to give for keeping the Sports Authority up and running is bond management -- that no other entity can manage and pay off the bonds that were issued to pay for the three venues.
The authority has an operating budget this year of nearly $2.9 million.
That includes $473,000 for legal expenses, investment management fees and auditors, and $245,000 in bond insurance.
Director Oliver Luck is paid $200,000. It has five other employees making a combined $622,000.
The sports authority's job, now that venues are built, is to pay off $1.04 billion in bond debt owed on Minute Maid Park, Reliant Stadium and Toyota Center.
Holy guacamole! Six employees who make more than $800,000 per year are needed to pay off bonds??!! No wonder Luck is working so hard to get a soccer team here. That's a whole lotta dough that needs to be justified!
The rest of the story has more details of Raycraft's recommendations, Judge Eckels' desire to dismantle the Sports Authority, and HCHSA board chair Billy Burge whining. Jack Rains is not quoted in the story, so it's unclear if he was given an opportunity to respond.
We, of course, agree with Judge Eckels, Commissioner Radack and Jack Rains, that the Sports Authority has outlived its mission and should be dismantled. Reducing the Sports Authority's staffing and current purpose, and combining it with the Convention and Visitors Bureau is a step in the right direction.
RELATED: Billy Burge: THE best reason to shut down the Sports Authority! (bH), Jack Rains' letter in the Chronicle (bH)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ Sports Authority"> 10/10/05 08:08 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (1)
15 October 2005
Sports Authority wants to save money -- bH has a suggestion
Apparently the Sports Authority is looking for ways to save money:
The Harris County-Houston Sports Authority may refinance as much as half of its more than $1 billion in bond debt if doing so would save money.
The authority has asked investment banks to submit refinancing proposals, and could get a deal done by late this year or early 2006, Sports Authority Chief Executive Oliver Luck said this week.
And why does the Sports Authority need to save money, you ask? Because hotel occupancy taxes and car rental taxes -- which the Authority uses to pay off the bonds -- haven't been keeping pace with the Sports Authority's needs:
Money for repaying bonds comes from hotel occupancy taxes and car rental taxes. When the bonds were floated, repayments were structured based on the assumption that these taxes would increase 3 percent annually.
The hotel occupancy tax revenue for the Sports Authority declined 5.42 percent in 2002 and 4.58 percent in 2003, said Harris County Tax Assessor/Collector Paul Bettencourt.
In 2004, the revenue was 11.27 percent higher than the previous year, Bettencourt said. Through the first two quarters of this year, revenues are 4.55 percent higher than last year, Millican said.
Despite those increases, the authority's revenue continues to fall short of projections, Millican said.
Revenue for September is expected to be down because hotel occupancy taxes were waived for at least some evacuees from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
And then there was that little problem last year:
Last year, the cost of the three sports venues went up when the authority floated another $37.2 million in bonds.
The money was needed because hotel and car rental taxes weren't meeting projections. An investment rating agency, Moody's, was threatening to reduce the authority's holdings to junk bond status unless it beefed up its cash reserve fund.
(You can read more about last year's close call with junk-bond status here.)
We know how the Sports Authority can save $1.5 million per year:
The sports authority has about a $3 million operating budget, about half of which is dedicated to contractual obligations and professional fees that either the city or county would have to pay even if the authority were dissolved. However, the bonds are amortized over 30 years, so saving $1.5 million a year over that period is not chump change.
And as we learned the other day, $800,000 + per year could be saved immediately in staff (six people) salaries alone.
It's time to shut that bureaucracy down.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ Sports Authority wants to save money -- bH has a suggestion"> 10/15/05 04:11 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (0)
30 August 2007
Dolcefino and the Sports Authority - Part 3
Part 3 of Wayne Dolcefino's investigation of the Sports Authority gave us a glimpse of internal board members' emails and their unflattering portrayal of Billy Burge.
The story really has to be read to be believed, but some of the "highlights" include Burge's effort to get his niece hired to a $40,000-per-year position; Burge's getting a personalized love song written for his wife by someone who hoped to get future Sports Authority business; the Toyota Center garage that has cost taxpayers over a million dollars; and a ridiculous lack of public meetings (what a shocker!).
All this from a quasi-governmental agency that has access to taxpayer money, with little oversight, and no accountability. It's everything that's wrong with government, wrapped up in one nice little package. And Billy Burge is the bow on top.
In Part 4 tonight, Dolcefino hints that tax dollars might already have been used toward a soccer stadium -- another shocker!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ Sports Authority - Part 3"> 08/30/07 07:36 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (6)
24 January 2006
County wants to change the Sports Authority's mission
Harris County wants to look at the Sports Authority's mission to see if it should be changed:
Harris County Judge Robert Eckels and county commissioners have approved an in-house review of the Harris County-Houston sports authority amid questions about whether it's outlived its usefullness.
The review is the latest chapter in what has become an ongoing debate at the county level about whether the sports authority should be shut down now that all three professional sports stadiums have been completed. The authority's main purpose now is to service debt on bonds that were sold to finance the stadiums, but has virtually no other responsibilities. Last month, the authority's CEO, Oliver Luck, stepped-down to take a job with the new Houston soccer franchise. Previous efforts to shutter the authority have been unsuccessful, so now Eckels says a change in roles might be appropriate.
"I think it's important that we look at the authority and say, okay, we've got a convention bureau that markets, we individually market. Do we want them marketing too or do we think that maybe we should have them looking at facility improvements or maybe we have them looking at other operations within this community. They do work for the court and the city and so all we're saying today is let's let the court and the city tell them which direction they should take as they move forward and hire a new director."
The authority has a $3 million budget and does market the city's sports venues, but most of that work is done by each individual franchise, including the Astros and Rockets, which both own their facilities.
[snip]
Houston Mayor Bill White's communication director Frank Michel says the mayor is open to suggestions on how the sports authority should move forward, but doesn't want local taxpayers to suffer.
"He would be in favor of looking at any way to streamline the operations, avoid duplication and increase accountability and transparency. What he does not want to do is to have some kind of an arrangment that would shift the bonded debt onto city and county taxpayers of the sports authority."
Although the state legislature has said in the past that the city and county have the power to shut down the sports authority, it's not likely that will happen anytime soon. The sports authority could hire a new chief executive by next month.
It's important to remember that the Sports Authority has five employees (now that CEO Oliver Luck is gone) whose combined salaries equal $622,000, and whose main job is to pay off stadium debt.
Judge Eckels' quote makes it sound as if he wants to find a new job for the Sports Authority, which is disappointing. If the Judge and the Mayor really don't want to transfer the debt-paying duties to either the city or the county, then they should at least cut back the Authority's staff and budget to just what is needed to pay off the debt. There is still plenty of fat in that $3 million budget.
PREVIOUSLY: Shut down the Sports Authority and save $40 million, Billy Burge: THE best reason to shut down the Sports Authority!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ Sports Authority's mission"> 01/24/06 07:27 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (3)
01 September 2007
Dolcefino wraps up Sports Authority series
KTRK-13's Wayne Dolcefino has wrapped up his series of stories on the Sports Authority.
Here's a link to the report that ran on Thursday night.
Here's a link to the report that ran on Friday night.
As we've noted before, this quasi-governmental body fulfilled its purpose some time ago. It's time to shut it down.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ Sports Authority series"> 09/01/07 04:14 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)
06 November 2005
Mayor White to reappoint Billy Burge to Sports Authority board
Look what's on the City Council agenda for this week:
REQUEST from Mayor for confirmation of the reappointment of MR. WILLIAM F. BURGE, III, as Chair, to the HARRIS COUNTY-HOUSTON SPORTS AUTHORITY BOARD OF DIRECTORS, for a two-year term
Two more years of the comes-unhinged-if-you-criticize-him Billy Burge.
He also is the president of the Grand Parkway Association Board of Directors.
Why does the old guard keep getting reappointed to these positions? Aren't there any new faces out there? Maybe with some new ideas? Or an ounce of common sense? Or the ability to relate to the average taxpaying citizen?
I blame it on Houston's cocktail-party circuit. No doubt that's where these things are decided.
(Thanks to Tom Bazan for the heads up.)
PREVIOUSLY: Billy Burge: THE best reason to shut down the Sports Authority! (bH)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ Sports Authority board"> 11/06/05 09:10 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (1)
06 June 2006
Sports Authority to get new boss
Mayor White and Judge Eckels had an opportunity recently to let the Sports Authority quietly vanish into the sunset when Oliver Luck left to head up the Houston Dynamo, but instead, Billy Burge is bringing in someone from San Antonio to take over:
A woman who serves as acting head of the San Antonio Convention and Visitors Bureau is expected to be named chief executive of the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority today.
Janis Schmees will be given the mandate to attract new events, including track and field competitions, to the city, said Billy Burge, chairman of the sports authority.
That's nice. Except that attracting events to the city isn't a part of the Sports Authority's mission statement...proving once again that government never goes away, even if the stated purpose of a governmental agency has long since expired. Government just keeps rolling along, sucking up taxpayer dollars...
UPDATE: I just saw the Chron's editorial on abolishing the Harris County treasurer's position:
In a time when public sentiment demands lower taxes and greater economy of public services, why should taxpayers provide $96,000 a year for an extraneous position to be used only to revive flagging political careers? Harris County commissioners and state lawmakers should give voters the opportunity to answer that question in the near future.
Who knew the LiveJournalists were so economy-minded with taxpayer dollars? Especially considering that they were not in favor of shutting down the Sports Authority to save $40 million (and an immediate savings of over $600,000 in salaries). Now why are the LJ's so hot to get the Harris County treasurer position shut down?
Sanchez has made it clear he would use the office for a political agenda having little or nothing to do with its job description.
It's all becoming clear.
RELATED: Sports Authority archives
Posted by Anne Linehan @ Sports Authority to get new boss"> 06/06/06 06:50 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (3)
12 May 2005
New nominees for Sports Authority
Mayor White has nominated five directors for the Sports Authority Board. Two are renominations and three are new nominations:
Houston Mayor Bill White today announced five nominees for the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority Board of Directors. Three of the nominees are new to the board and two are being reappointed.
“We’ve got a slate of good, conscientious nominees who take this role seriously and help us fulfill our commitment to the kind of diversity that reflects Houston,” said Mayor White. “We are proud that they are ready, willing and able to serve.”
The appointees, who must be approved by City Council, are:
* Neal S. Manne, a partner with the law firm Susman Godfrey LLP., to Position 1, for a term expiring Aug. 31, 2006.
* Ba Mau Nguyen, an attorney with Vinson & Elkins, reappointed to Position 2 for a term to expire Aug. 31, 2006. He was first appointed to the Authority in August 2003.
* J. Kent Friedman, reappointed to Position 3, for a term expiring Aug. 31, 2006. Friedman is vice chairman of the board and general counsel of MAXXAM, Inc.
* Janie Reyes to Position 5, for a term expiring, Aug. 31, 2005. Reyes is a community activist who has served Harris County as director of personnel, Equal Employment Opportunity officer and several other positions.
* Roland Garcia, to Position 11, for a term expiring Aug. 31, 2005. Garcia was a partner with the law firm Locke Liddell & Sapp LLP., and is now managing partner of Greenberg Traurig, LLP.
Are any other Chris Baker listeners laughing as they repeat the mantra, "Diversity is beauty"? Because nothing makes a Sports Authority run more efficiently than diversity.
RELATED: Billy Burge: THE best reason to shut down the Sports Authority! (blogHOUSTON)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ Sports Authority"> 05/12/05 04:54 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (14)
06 January 2006
I used to like Alan Ashby...
Alan Ashby, who recently lost his job as radio analyst for Astros games, is a candidate to become the next head of the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority, the authority's chairman said Thursday.
Ashby, a popular former Astros catcher, has the kind of sports background that would be useful for the sports authority's next chief executive, said chairman Billy Burge.
"You need somebody from a sports culture who has worked sporting events around the country," Burge said. "I'm not saying (Ashby) is the person, but that's the kind of profile we are talking about."
Oliver Luck, a former Houston Oilers quarterback and former head of NFL Europe, resigned as the sports authority's chief executive at the end of December. He was hired as president of the Major League Soccer team relocating to Houston from San Jose.
The sports authority's board will form a search committee this month and likely make its choice sometime next month, Burge said. He expects three to five candidates to emerge.
That's a shame. There must be SOMETHING else he can do.
KEVIN WHITED ADDS: This part was the real stunner to me:
Ashby said he took classes at a community college, but does not have a college degree.
"He doesn't have a financial background. But (the sports authority) has a controller," Burge said.
The job would focus more on attracting sports events to Houston, not bond repayments, Burge said.
Unbelievable.
Ashby may be a nice guy, and his supporters may feel like he got a raw deal from Drayton McLane, but there is no way that Billy Burge ought to be able to bestow a $200,000-per-year position on an athlete with no college degree simply because Billy Burge thinks it's a great idea. It smacks of the sort of cronyism that Mayor White's press shop has long said won't be tolerated by this administration.
Incidentally, is Burge's boosting of Ashby's candidacy really "news" at this point? The story is set up so that Burge effectively is acting as Ashby's PR man, touting his candidacy, yet a formal search committee has not yet been formed. Does that mean the fix is in, already?
PREVIOUSLY: Billy Burge: THE best reason to shut down the Sports Authority!, Shut down the Sports Authority and save $40 million, County official recommends downsizing Sports Authority
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/06/06 08:18 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (5)
10 April 2005
Jack Rains' letter in the Chronicle (Updated)
I am a day behind, but Saturday's Chronicle ran a letter from Jack Rains:
Time's up for Sports Authority
In response to the April 7 Chronicle editorial "Lease on life," the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority has outlived its purpose.
It was authorized by the Legislature and narrowly empowered by local voters to complete two venues — baseball and football.
A third venue was added after two referendums, narrowly passing on the second attempt.
The authority's purposes were limited to authorized venues approved by the voters, all of which have now been completed.
Without voter approval, the Sports Authority should not take on any new projects, and certainly not on a politician's whim!
The city efficiently operated the Summit, and Harris County operated the Astrodome, for years without the Sports Authority.
The leases for the three new venues give all the promotion rights to the lessees — the team owners who are the lead tenants. These are who should take the promotion risks, as they are the ones who will reap the rewards if successful.
Further, we have in place tax-supported city and county convention and visitors bureaus charged with promotion.
We have tax-supported city and county auditors and legal staffers who handle other public properties. We clearly do not need to squander another $3 million in overhead for the superfluous Sports Authority; it is just a bureaucracy looking for a new purpose.
Finally, the authority exceeded its original budgets on the Reliant and Toyota venues, and was forced to issue additional bonds to prevent a downgrade to junk bonds. Today, it is out of money.
The $3 million now being wasted could better be applied to shoring up the financial base on the existing debt.
The Harris County-Houston Sports Authority's time has come and gone.
JACK RAINS
founding chair, Harris County-Houston Sports Authority
And after Friday's scary display of entrenched, arrogant bureaucrat-itis courtesy of Billy Burge, I think it's clear why the Sports Authority needs to be shut down.
RELATED: Shut down the Sports Authority and save $40 million (blogHOUSTON)
UPDATE: David Benzion from Lone Star Times says the Jack Rains/Billy Burge/Dan Patrick interview should rerun Monday morning between 7 and 8 on KSEV-700 (you can listen online). Also, the interview will repeat Monday afternoon during Patrick's show beginning at 4. And Benzion says the MP3 should be posted on Lone Star Times some time tomorrow.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 04/10/05 05:00 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (22)
06 February 2005
Chron soccer columnist backs yet another new stadium
Back in August, the Chronicle reported that the Sports Authority had narrowly averted a downgrade of stadium bonds to junk status because of revenue difficulties. Apparently, those of us at blogHOUSTON missed the subsequent press release announcing that the Sports Authority and city are so flush with extra money that it is time to engage in a new stadium project:
Great accomplishments start with ideas. That's what Harris County-Houston Sports Authority head Oliver Luck had when he proposed a resolution that the Houston Independent School District consider redeveloping an existing facility into a professional soccer stadium that also would host high school football and other events.
The resolution passed unanimously, and the dream of a soccer-specific stadium that could serve as a home to a Major League Soccer franchise is a step closer to becoming a reality.
"HISD is excited about it," Luck said. "Trustees loved the idea, they were very supportive. We're a long way from getting it done."
What a nice piece of advocacy journalism from the Chronicle soccer columnist, with not a single reference to anyone concerned over the expenditure of public funds on another sports facility -- and at a time when most Houstonians are probably under the mistaken impression that the Sports Authority has served its purpose and is no longer in the business of funding new projects.
RELATED: Laurence Simon alerted us to this news with this post.
UPDATE: What do you know, we ARE in great financial shape! There's no mention of a soccer stadium or an explanation of why Mayor White needs so many new revenue streams, however.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/06/05 07:36 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (4)
22 August 2007
Buh bye, Billy Burge
Longtime Sports Authority Chairman Billy Burge has decided (agreed?) to leave the quasi-governmental agency:
Billy Burge, who played a major role in building Houston's three professional sports venues, will not be reappointed to the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority.
Burge said he had served long enough on the authority — 10 years — and Mayor Bill White said he wanted to inject new blood into the authority.
Commissioners Court recommended Tuesday that the authority's vice chair, J. Kent Friedman, take the chairman's job.
White also has nominated Friedman, and the City Council will take up the matter at an upcoming meeting.
The authority's chairman must be approved by Commissioners Court and the City Council.
It appears a bit of a power struggle contributed to the decision:
Burge said his decision to leave the authority comes two months after he asked the board to consider whether Janis Schmees, hired as the authority's executive director a year ago, should be replaced. The board rejected the idea.
"Janis Schmees is doing an excellent job, hustling and trying to find sporting events for Houston," Friedman said.
During that same meeting, the board debated the chairman's role and whether the chairman could make decisions without the board's approval.
Burge said he helped make executive decisions at the sports authority in the six months between former executive director Oliver Luck's resignation and Schmees' hiring last summer.
"Last week, I visited with (Burge), and he said he wanted to move on," White said. "I think it's good for boards and chairs to turn over from time to time."
We still agree with Paul Bettencourt and Tom Kirkendall: The Sports Authority's mission is complete; the agency should be dissolved. There are other local agencies that can be "hustling and trying to find sporting events for Houston."
But, back to Mr. Burge: Now he can fill his days attending Grand Parkway meetings, and supporting Harris County Judge Ed Emmett in his election bid.
But he probably doesn't have a future in radio.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 08/22/07 07:59 PM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (28)
26 September 2006
HCTRA funds to repay a HC Sports & Convention Corp loan (updated)
See if you can follow the (Harris County) money in this KTRH-740 story:
Presently, Harris County uses "hotel-motel taxes" to pay for operations at the Reliant Center, including electric bills, and property insurance. The tax money also goes to pay off debt owed for construction of the center. Hotel-motel taxes are not considered "local" tax dollars because they're generally paid by business travelers and other out-of-town visitors.
However, county budget documents reviewed by KTRH show a local tax bailout may be needed to keep the center open. The amount owed for utilities, insurance and debts totals $31.8 million. Total revenues from hotel-motel taxes are averaging $21 million.
Raycraft said 30 percent-plus increases in the cost of utilities and property insurance are boosting the Reliant Center funding shortfall. The bill for utilities went from $8.4 million last year to $10.9 million this year. Property insurance jumped from $2.6 million to $3.9 million in one year.
And those are not the only financial problems the county faces with Reliant Center.
On Tuesday, county commissioners will consider paying back a $19 million loan made in 2001 to the Harris County Sports & Convention Corp. by RCM Financial, Houston Texans' owner Bob McNair's company. According to Raycraft, the sports corporation is unable to pay the debt by the deadline. The plan up for commissioner's approval Tuesday would use revenues from the Harris County Toll Road Authority to repay the loan. That cash would then have to be paid back to the toll road system by the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority.
At least one person on Commissioner's Court is not fond of the idea. "It's a shell game," said commissioner Sylvia Garcia. "I think that's not what the money was intended for. Toll road money should be for building toll roads."
I got lost in the fourth paragraph, but it doesn't sound good.
But other commissioners, like Steve Radack, said they have no problem with the deal. Radack said he trusted the sports authority to pay the money back. The sports authority also gets its money from hotel taxes.
That's why the red flags went up. The Sports Authority should have been shuttered when the opportunity arose.
UPDATE: Commissioners Court approved the loan payback:
Harris County will help pay off a $26 million loan for land the Houston Texans use.
It’s the property that houses the Texans practice bubble and a parking lot.
Tuesday, Harris County Comissioners Court approved the loan 4 to 1.
Sylvia Garcia was the lone dissenter.
The Harris County Convention and Sports Corporation is unable to pay.
Now the county will step in, using money from the Harris County Toll Road Authority.
The loan has a 5.5 percent interest rate.
Lots of hands are in the hotel/motel tax revenue pot. Too many? Maybe.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ Sports & Convention Corp loan (updated)"> 09/26/06 06:13 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (14)
21 December 2005
The stadium-financing fairy will pay for new MLS venue (updated)
John Lopez tries to reassure us that Houston's new soccer team won't be a burden to taxpayers:
And among the first promises [newly named club president Oliver] Luck announced was a most important one that every sports fan should note: A soccer-specific stadium here would not be financed like every other sports mansion on the local landscape.
Financing will not be another tax burden on citizens. Now you're talking our language, Oliver.
It should matter to you that Luck is in charge. Even if you couldn't care less about the beautiful game and all those men with funny hair and short shorts, if the No Names' stadium is put in the right place and run the right way, you benefit.
Luck's vast experience with projects bigger than the likely 25,000- to 30,000-seat soccer-specific stadium gives this organization a head start succeeding.
With associations with all the usual suspects when it comes to ownership — Chuck Watson, Jim McIngvale, Tilman Fertitta, etc. — Luck is ahead of the game. He also has been contacted by potential owners from Mexico.
And with his experience helping develop Toyota Center and Minute Maid Park, he certainly could hammer out a public-private partnership with, say, HISD.
Being eternally skeptical, I'll await the details our local media will surely dig up.
UPDATE: Do NOT miss Slampo:
In a textbook case of government “empire building,” Oliver Luck and the Sports Authority have been angling for several years to bring an MLS franchise to Houston---a job that by no stretch of the imagination was part of the authority’s initial charge. The Sports Authority should have been shuttered long ago and its bill-paying functions housed in a back office of some non-descript office building with a hand-lettered sign on the door. Didn’t County Judge Robert Eckels raise that possibility a while back? What happened with that?
Last year, in his role as the Sports Authority’s chief officer, Luck gave a speech in which he told an East End group that a revamped Robertson Stadium would be a suitable venue for an MLS franchise. There was no mention of a new stadium, according to the Chronicle story still posted on the authority’s Web site. Now that Luck has taken the revolving door to the former San Jose Earthquakes, Robertson Stadium apparently will be good only as temporary home for the MLS. A new stadium must be built. No doubt the owners of the Earthquakes figure Luck is the man to deliver one, and he's already shown them he knows how to handle the media (was he, by any chance, working out this financing plan of which Lopez writes while drawing some of his $200,00 annual paycheck from the Sports Authority?).
Our olfactories aren’t that sensitive anymore, but this has a very bad smell about it.*
Read it all.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/21/05 11:13 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (6)
15 February 2005
No more taxpayer-funded stadiums, please
The Chronicle is really pushing Major League Soccer. A little over a week ago, Glenn Davis wrote a column about Houston Sports Authority chief Oliver Luck dreaming of a soccer stadium.
Today we have a story by Dale Robertson letting us know how swell it would be to have a professional soccer team here:
Major League Soccer realizes it should be in Houston. Houston believes it should have an MLS team. Philosophically, all parties are in accord. But without an economically viable soccer-specific stadium, a solution remains elusive, and one isn't imminent.
Stop right there. If MLS has had this Houston epiphany, then MLS should buy some land and build a stadium, with private money. Houston is really tapped out right now:
The cost of building Minute Maid Park, Reliant Stadium and Toyota Center rose by $37.2 million this week when the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority voted to issue new bonds.
Issuing the bonds was necessary to persuade one of the three major investment rating agencies, Moody's, not to downgrade the authority's bonds from investment grade status to junk bonds, said Ric Campo, chairman of the authority's finance committee.
The new bonds were needed to make up for declining hotel and car rental tax revenues, which the authority receives to pay off bond debt. In 2002 and 2003, the revenues sagged 10 percent.
To meet the annual payments for $900 million in previously issued bonds, the authority had projected annual 3 percent increases in hotel and car rental tax revenues.
"September 11 came and the recession came, and the hotel and car rental taxes have not been growing 3 percent. They're declining," said Oliver Luck, sports authority executive director.
The three sporting venues cost $1.036 billion to build. (Reliant Stadium cost $500 million, Minute Maid Park, $286 million, and Toyota Center, $250 million.) With the bond issuance, the price tag has now risen to $1.073 billion.
No more taxpayer-funded stadiums. If it's such a great idea, MLS can raise private funds to do it. That's the way all these stadiums should have been handled, frankly.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/15/05 04:24 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (4)
08 April 2005
Billy Burge: THE best reason to shut down the Sports Authority!
--Enron Field (now Minute Maid Park) came in on time and under budget, although about $20 million worth of extras that Astros' owner Drayton McLane was supposed to pay for, the Sports Authority let him get out of (that was after Rains had left the Authority).
--Reliant was supposed to come in at around $300 million but ended up coming in at around $500 million. Rains said some of those extras were due to Rodeo needs and the Rodeo paid for its extras, but those didn't total $200 million.
--Rockets' owner Les Alexander got a nice deal on the Toyota Center at about $100 million more than what the Sports Authority had been authorized to approve. (I think Rains said Lee Brown negotiated the deal, but I could be wrong.)
--Reliant Stadium has already been handed over to Harris County, and the Toyota Center to the City of Houston. So, as Rains said, Minute Maid Park needs to be handed over to the city or the county, and then that will relieve the Sports Authority of any further oversight.
--Regarding the idea that Oliver Luck is busy promoting Houston's professional sports teams (an idea furthered by the Chronicle's editorial board), Rains said that's nonsense. He said the owners of the teams would never hand over promotion of their teams to Luck. And in the off-chance that they did want Oliver Luck to handle promotional duties, then Rains said the team owners need to be paying Luck's salary, not taxpayers. (Amen and hallelujah!)
--Rains said he thinks the $3 million operating budget for the Sports Authority is steep for what the Authority currently has to do. He said that the city and county should WANT to dissolve the Authority and get control of the money, if the Authority isn't handling the finances as well as it should be (think last summer's near-miss with junk bond status.)
--Rains thinks governmental entities like the Sports Authority should have a sunset-clause built in.
--Rains said the Sports Authority is a "creature that has outlived its usefulness."
When Patrick and Rains questioned Burge about the $3 million Sports Authority operating budget, Burge let slip that the taxpayers (you and me) are subsidizing a parking garage and the ice for Aeros games.
Really! $100,000 worth of ice for Aeros' players to skate on is paid for by the taxpayers!
And Burge couldn't figure out why Rains and Patrick found that astonishing. Rains had said earlier that when he was in charge of the Sports Authority, he knew that he was representing and looking out for the taxpayers. Burge appears to take the exact opposite view -- he made it clear that his mission is to look out for the teams and the owners. He said it was small-minded of Patrick to think that the Aeros should pay for their ice, he had no idea if the Aeros make money or lose money, and he didn't appear to care. Plus, while he was berating Patrick and Rains, Burge was confirming his dinner reservations!
It was an amazing call-in from Billy Burge, who is also the former chairman of Metro's board of directors and the current chairman of the Grand Parkway Association. (Uh oh, Grand Parkway...)
Patrick said that Lone Star Times would have an MP3 of the interview/call-in later this weekend. If they do, I will post an update and I would encourage everyone to listen to the entire show. Rains' information was invaluable and Burge's display...well, mere words cannot convey what an ass he made of himself. You really need to hear it.
He is a disturbing example of someone who has access to taxpayer money, and the mayor and county commissioners would be wise to get rid of him, after that display of unbelievable bureaucratic arrogance.
And then they can get to work shutting down the Sports Authority. The Aeros need to pay for their own damn ice.
KEVIN WHITED ADDS: If that's not a post worthy of the designation #1000 for our little experiment in hyperlocal blogging, I can't imagine how one would look. Thanks Anne!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ Sports Authority!"> 04/08/05 06:32 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (4)
21 April 2005
White and Lee oppose ending sports authority
Nearly two weeks ago, Jack Rains appeared on the Dan Patrick show on KSEV-700 to talk about disbanding the Houston Sports Authority, then Billy Burge called in, and finally all sorts of hilarity ensued, as described on various blogs.
Last week, the Chronicle's Rick Casey commented on part of the conversation that took place, although he didn't bother to interview Rains.
This week, Rich Connelly also comments on the Patrick/Rains/Burge exchange for the Houston Press.
It's good to see all the print publications are finally up to speed now on a two-week old story.
In the last election, Bill White ran as a fiscally sensible businessman who would be mindful of the city's purse strings. In office, however, he's overseen a significant expansion of long-term municipal debt, he's opposed Proposition 2's effort to control the growth of municipal revenues (to the tune of being forced by a court to report the outcome of the election), and now we find him in alliance with perennial tax-and-spender El Franco Lee, who seems to support transforming a sports authority that's served its purpose into a perpetual boondoogle authority.
Interestingly, Mack reports that Mayor White claimed to be speaking for council, even though council has not taken a position on dissolving the Sports Authority. Perhaps it's time for Jared Woodfill to encourage certain members of council to express their opinions on the matter.
ANNE ADDS: The story also points out that Oliver Luck is busy trying to secure new sports teams for Houston and specifically mentions Major League Soccer. Well, take a look at what is going on in San Antonio:
The proposal to bring Major League Soccer to San Antonio continues to balloon, with the price tag of the proposal San Antonio City Council is set to vote on today in excess of $22 million, 1200 WOAI news reported today.
That's three times higher than the $6.2 million dollar price tag which was placed on the deal just one week ago.
ONE WEEK! The price of a MLS team went from $6 million to $22 million in ONE WEEK! This is what happens when these governmental authorities get their grimy mitts on taxpayer dollars.
The Aeros need to buy their own ice, Les Alexander needs to pay for his own parking garage (or give up the money he's currently pocketing), El Franco Lee needs to find a Parks and Rec Department to build his pool and youth center, and the Sports Authority needs to close up shop. No more endless boondoggles!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ sports authority"> 04/21/05 06:10 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (3)
17 June 2005
Uh oh: Sports Authority still working on Major League Soccer deal
Here's a perfect example of why the Sports Authority should be sunsetted out of existence:
Officials with Mexican soccer league champion Club América hope to continue talks in the next two weeks about prospects for a Major League Soccer franchise in Houston that eventually could play in a new stadium developed in conjunction with the Houston Independent School District.
[snip]
Oliver Luck, CEO of the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority, who has been working with Club América and other groups interested in bring MLS to Houston, expects a resolution to Club América's plans by the end of next week.
[snip]
Luck said several potential investors have met with the sports authority and with the Houston Independent School District about a proposed 20,000-seat stadium plus a smaller practice field to be built at the site of HISD-owned Delmar Stadium.
The proposed HISD stadium, which would cost an estimated $45 million to $50 million, would be a smaller-scale version of a 117-acre, $80 million project that will open this summer in the Dallas suburb of Frisco. That project, which includes a 20,000-seat stadium and 17 soccer fields, was funded by $15 million from the Frisco school district, $20 million from Collin County, $20 million from city economic development entities and $10 million from Hunt Sports Group, which owns FC Dallas and will manage the complex.
Oliver Luck has been busy, hasn't he? And there's not a hint on the Sports Authority's website that any of this has been going on.
The first thing I did was contact HISD to find out what its part in this proposed deal is. Terry Abbott responded that HISD will not commit any money. He said that HISD was approached about providing a stadium that would be improved with outside money and would be used jointly by HISD and MLS.
The Chron's story is light on funding details, but we hope it would be ALL private funding! And any deal had better not include those little "helps" that the Sports Authority/taxpayers are currently providing, for example, to the Rockets (parking garage) and the Aeros (ice).
[MLS spokesman Simon]Borg said Houston's plans were neither helped nor hindered by the recent collapse of plans to award a franchise to San Antonio. MLS officials this month ended talks with the city and said local officials were not bargaining in good faith. That came after new Mayor Phil Hardberger opposed plans to grant MLS a favorable lease on the city-owned Alamodome.
And what happened in San Antonio? Well, in April the cost of bringing a soccer team to San Antonio skyrocketed from $6 million to more than $20 million. And then this month, talks completely collapsed, apparently due to financial concerns -- including MLS's plan to use the Alamodome rent-free.
RELATED: Billy Burge: THE best reason to shut down the Sports Authority!(bH), Chron soccer columnist backs yet another new stadium (bH), Sports Authority's near-miss with junk-bond status (PubliusTX)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ Sports Authority still working on Major League Soccer deal"> 06/17/05 03:27 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (2)
04 April 2005
Two examples of local government at its "best"
Tom Kirkendall, at Houston's Clear Thinkers, is reacting to a couple of today's interesting local stories.
First, Kirkendall comments on the completed audit of Houston's Housing and Community Development Department:
[...] essentially concludes that the Authority has been run as the personal fiefdom of some of its directors for over a decade.
[snip]
Probably only the department's system for setting up directors' travel arrangements worked without a hitch.
The findings in the report are no surprise to anyone who has attempted to deal with the City of Houston Housing Department in an honest and businesslike manner. Tip to Mayor White: Clean house.
This is the same department that issued $40 million worth of loans, some for hotel redevelopment, that have not been repaid.
The second story he tackles is the call by some to end the Houston Sports Authority:
Seems as if a few local legislators are questioning whether the $3 million annual overhead for the Sports Authority is really worth it when it appears that all the Authority is doing is writing checks on bonds issued to build the stadiums.
[snip]
The sports authority has about a $3 million operating budget, about half of which is dedicated to contractual obligations and professional fees that either the city or county would have to pay even if the authority were dissolved. However, the bonds are amortized over 30 years, so saving $1.5 million a year over that period is not chump change.
Curiously, the Sports Authority is attempting to justify its existence by proposing the construction of yet another sports venue.
That would be for Major League Soccer.
The only thing I would add is the study that came out about a week ago showing that the taxes Houston adds to cars rented from Bush Intercontinental (which help pay for Houston's sports stadiums) end up leaving customers with a much higher bill, compared to a rental's base price, than any other airport in the nation:
After first revealing major discrepancies from total versus quoted rental car prices in 2003, an updated Travelocity study examining added rental car taxes (which, for the purposes of the study, include government imposed fees such as facility charges, stadium initiatives, etc.) has discovered that sticker shock on the whole has slightly worsened and that consumers can save on the amount of extra taxes they pay by renting at a local outlet rather than at the airport.
[snip]
Houston's Bush Intercontinental continues to lead not only Texas, but the nation overall in airport taxes, adding 66.1 percent to the base rate of the rental car[...]
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 04/04/05 09:35 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (0)
16 December 2005
Harris County sees increase in hotel occupancy taxes
The Houston Business Journal reports:
Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector Paul Bettencourt said Friday that his office had collected and distributed more than $8.1 million in hotel-occupancy taxes during the third quarter of 2005, an increase of nearly $575,000 over the same period last year.
"Even with our hotels filled for weeks with evacuees from hurricanes Katrina and Rita -- most of whom were exempt from hotel taxes -- we still saw one of our best quarters in four years," Bettencourt said. "Just as some of us predicted, the taxes waived for the evacuees produced no losses. That was tax money we never would have collected anyway."
Although tens of thousands of hurricane evacuees began arriving in Houston-area hotels and motels in August and September, they were exempted by Texas Gov. Rick Perry from all hotel-occupancy taxes.
The hotel occupancy tax is 17 percent in most areas of the county, with shares of the revenue going to the city, the county, the state and the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority. The Harris County Tax Office collects the tax for the county and the sports authority.
Well, now the new soccer team won't have to pay for its own turf.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/16/05 01:42 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
17 May 2005
Did you know the Sports Authority held a public meeting today?
I check the Sports Authority's website every day, just in case something pops up. It's rare that something does, but look what's new today:
TAKE NOTICE that the Board of Directors of the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority will meet, open to the public, at First City Tower, 1001 Fannin, 10th Floor Conference Room, Houston, Texas, 77002 at 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday, May 17, 2005.* At such meeting, the Board will consider the following matters:1. Call to order; roll call; invocation. (Burge, Johnson)
2. Report from CEO. (Luck)
3. Report of the Construction Committee Chairman.(Warwick)
1. Report from Jerry Dinkins on the status of the punch list and other final completion matters regarding the Toyota Center.4. Discussion and possible action on resolution approving an agreement with Harris County for construction manager services in the development of an aquatics center and youth recreational facility and approving other maters related thereto (Friedman)
5. Discussion and possible action on resolution approving an agreement with Hermes Architects to serve as the architect for the new Aquatics Center and approving other matters related thereto (Friedman)
6. Discussion and possible action approving an amendment to the Garage Operations Management Agreement with Central Parking and approving other matters related thereto (Warwick)
7. Discussion and possible action on resolution authorizing participation with bringing incoming sports events to Harris County and delegating authority and approving other matters related thereto (Catuzzi)
8. Presentation and discussion of Quarterly Investment Report and Quarterly Portfolio Compliance Report for the period ending March 31, 2005. (Catuzzi)
9. EXECUTIVE SESSION: Pursuant to provisions of Chapter 551, Texas Government Code, the Board shall deliberate in Executive Session on the following:
1. Real estate matters
2. Consultation with attorneys on potential and actual litigation matters relating to construction issues and Toyota Center.
3. Personnel matters
4. Discussions or deliberations regarding commercial or financial information received from a business prospect or the offer of financial or other incentives to a business prospect.
(Burge)Reconvene in Public Session
10. Comments by Directors (if any)
11. Comments or Announcements by Chair (if any)
12. Adjournment
I'm guessing numbers 4 and 5 are related to the pool and youth center Harris County Commissioner El Franco Lee wants the Sports Authority to build.
I didn't see this agenda posted yesterday, and the meeting was this afternoon. That's one way to keep public input to a minimum!
RELATED: Billy Burge: THE best reason to shut down the Sports Authority! (blogHOUSTON)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ Sports Authority held a public meeting today?"> 05/17/05 06:55 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (3)
07 October 2009
Which of these does not belong?
Texas Watchdog has followed up on their interesting story on Gene Locke's A&K/Sports Authority connections with this more general post on mayoral fundraising (including Locke's A&K fundraising connections).
The post includes a nice roundup of posts from local bloggers, who have done a good job devoting attention to a mayoral race that, frankly, has bored us to tears (although we have enjoyed the recent, overdue dissection of Gene Locke's insider ties and Houston Way connections).
Oddly, Slampo's latest and greatest is not included in the roundup, but The Plagiarist's lazy, weak column for the Chronicle is. Still, the Watchdogs saved us from doing the roundup*, and for that we're thankful!
* We realize we haven't done a blog talk linkpost in a while... life has been busy, but they'll be back soon!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/07/09 09:43 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (2)
13 September 2009
Sports Authority may need infusion of taxpayer cash
Five years ago, the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority came face-to-face with declining tax revenues, and had to issue millions in new bonds to make up for the shortage (via Kevin Whited's Publiustx.net):
Issuing the bonds was necessary to persuade one of the three major investment rating agencies, Moody's, not to downgrade the authority's bonds from investment grade status to junk bonds, said Ric Campo, chairman of the authority's finance committee.
The new bonds were needed to make up for declining hotel and car rental tax revenues, which the authority receives to pay off bond debt. In 2002 and 2003, the revenues sagged 10 percent.
To meet the annual payments for $900 million in previously issued bonds, the authority had projected annual 3 percent increases in hotel and car rental tax revenues.
And taxpayers were assured that all was well:
Many of those who supported building the venues said the county's residents would not pay the bills -- they would be borne by visitors who stayed in local hotels and rented cars.
"The taxpayers of Harris County really aren't affected," said Sue Millican, the authority's chief financial officer.
Not everyone believed all was well, however, and despite calls to shut down the unaccountable, quasi-governmental agency, the behemoth survived. Former HCHSA CEO Oliver Luck worked to bring a MLS franchise here, then became president of it. Former Houston City Attorney Gene Locke became general counsel to the Sports Authority, and now is a mayoral candidate. The agency is politically well-connected and will not be dismantled, despite its dubious raison d'être.
Remember KTRK-13's Wayne Dolcefino's exposé of the agency? How the Sports Authority foots the bill for the Rockets' parking garage while the Rockets pocket most of the earnings? How the agency was maintaining a suite at Minute Maid Park? And don't forget how former chairman Billy Burge let slip that the Sports Authority even paid for the ice for Aeros games.
And now we await the inevitable announcement that the city and county will be working together to help build a new soccer stadium. However, in today's Chronicle we learn that, contrary to every assurance that Harris County taxpayers wouldn't have to pay for the stadiums, the Sports Authority faces new financial challenges that may force officials to break that promise:
Harris County may be forced to pay $4 million or more to the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority due to a cascading series of challenges initiated when $117 million in stadium bonds soured at the peak of the financial crisis last year.
The payments indirectly could upend a promise to taxpayers that public money would not be spent on professional sports stadiums.
City, county and stadium authority officials have struggled to avoid that outcome for months as the due date for a balloon debt payment approaches in November.
The sports authority debt ran into trouble about a year ago when MBIA, a financial firm that insured the variable-rate bonds, was downgraded by investor analysts. The city recently experienced similar problems with about $182 million in variable-rate debt. It avoided heavy charges by using the county as an investor of last resort.
So, by all means, let's add a new soccer stadium to the mix. What could go wrong?
KEVIN WHITED ADDS: If anyone EVER wondered why we are so skeptical of government promises (of utopia, world-classness, a free ride, or what have you), we're happy to point to this as the latest illustration. We are admittedly skeptical when government tells us that taxpayers won't be on the hook for quasi-governmental projects (whether it's the sports authority or the convoluted dealings of the Houston Airport System that Richard Vacar put together with some as yet unclear level of supervision from Anthony Hall and Mayor Bill White, who assure everything is fine).
The question is, why aren't local media just a little more skeptical?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ Sports Authority may need infusion of taxpayer cash"> 09/13/09 12:22 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (11)
09 July 2005
More on Major League Soccer in Houston
This Soccer Times story makes Major League Soccer in Houston sound like an almost-done deal:
This left Houston as probably the only option that appealed to Grupo Televisa. However, the league has been stymied for some time trying to find a place to play. Reliant Stadium, where the National Football League's Houston Texans play, was looked at, but its ownership did not want to become MLS franchise owners at this time, nor did it want to become landlord. Other venues were looked at, including the University of Houston's Robertson Stadium, but have been dismissed for various other reasons. Now, according to local media reports, an inventive solution may have been found - playing in the all but abandoned Astrodome.
Since Reliant was built, the only thing the Astrodome has been used for, besides some high school events, is the two-week long Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, which draws over two million attendees each year to the February event. Otherwise, it sits empty, much as Washington, D.C.'s RFK Stadium did before MLS's D.C. United became its main tenant 10 years ago.
Televisa executives Javier Perez Teuffer and Juan de Villa Franca have recently visited Houston for talks with Mayor Bill White and Houston Sports Authority head Oliver Luck. In addition, operational personnel from Club America have toured the Astrodome.
There reportedly are a number of issues still to be solved, including what kind of playing surface would be used. The Astrodome has a permanent roof, and when baseball and football were played there, growing grass was a lost cause, leading to the advent of AstroTurf. A grass tray system is being studied.
In any event, the Astrodome would be a temporary solution until a soccer-specific facility could be built.
Yep. We have to keep the Sports Authority busy so Oliver Luck can keep his job. How much farther do you think hotel and rental car tax revenues can be stretched? Enough to fund a new soccer stadium?
The story also relays what went wrong for MLS in San Antonio:
A memorandum of understanding was signed between MLS and the San Antonio City Council, but then the agreement became a political football in the mayoral election campaign to choose who would succeed Garza. Phil Hardberger, the 70-year-old former business executive who ended up winning had based a part of his campaign on his opposition to the deal with MLS.
"Goodbye, that's what I would tell the MLS," Hardberger said when asked what he would say to MLS commissioner Don Garber. "Call us again in about 10 years. We'll see what the market looks like (and) whether you really can bring money into San Antonio."
Fortunately for Major League Soccer, Mayor White and Oliver Luck won't be quite so worried about whether or not MLS can bring money into Houston; quite the opposite actually: Houstonians should worry about how much money those two will give to MLS for the privilege of bringing a team here.
RELATED: bH's Sports Authority archives
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/09/05 01:10 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (1)
11 January 2007
Chron columnist still pushing for new soccer stadium
Check out the latest effort from the Chron's soccer columnist to stir up some interest in a new home for the Houston Dynamo:
The Dynamo need a facility where they can control scheduling, concessions, parking and security and support the bottom line. Thinking bigger, soccer needs its own home in a city of international recognition like Houston.
I would love to see a stadium built in downtown Houston. The whole experience of going downtown for a game would give more suburbanites a reason to enjoy that great part of our city.
A downtown stadium also would give Dynamo games more of a major-league feel, not to mention the fact there are a lot of haunts where fans could gather before and after a game.
We already have downtown sports venues, including a stadium. Three brand new ones. Really expensive ones that taxpayers built (plus a big empty one that costs millions just to maintain). In fact, Harris County has the highest rental car taxes in the nation to help pay for those expensive stadiums. And the Sports Authority has already had one close-call with junk-bond status.
What Harris County doesn't need is another sports team coming in here, sticking taxpayers with a big fat bill for a new venue, then controlling the revenue associated with that venue. Now if Dynamo officials can build a stadium with their own money, fine.
As for the bolded part -- yeah, that's just what suburbanites have been waiting for. A downtown soccer stadium.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/11/07 08:56 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (11)
05 May 2007
Dynamo and Astros could be neighbors
KTRK-13's Miya Shay reports the Dynamo are looking at property east of Minute Maid park, currently used for Astros parking:
Officially, the Dynamo say they are still looking at building a new stadium either in Sugar Land or Houston. But I've learned there's been a strong push by city and sports leaders in town to keep the team in Houston. And while the final decision is still weeks away, there's been lots of scouting for a potential location.
[snip]
Luck would not go into specifics, but multiple sources say the Dynamo is seriously considering a stretch of parking lot located just east of Minute Maid Park. Owned by the Houston Sports Authority, the large surface parking lot is under a 30-year lease by the Astros. But Pam Gardner says the team's willing to share.
[snip]
The city says it's been in some intense discussions with the Dynamo. You can expect an announcement of whether the team will stay in Houston or go to the suburbs within six to eight weeks.
Which means the only question left is how much will this cost taxpayers?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/05/07 04:29 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (8)
16 September 2009
TV news elaborates on recent print stories
On Sunday, the Chronicle broke the news that area taxpayers might have to bail out the Sports Authority, despite repeated promises that such a thing could NEVER happen. In a followup blog post, Anne Linehan pointed out Gene Locke's connection to the Sports Authority. Yesterday, KTRK-13 followed up on how the news might affect the mayoral race. Chron.com's Houston Politics blog called attention to the KTRK story today (while noting that it failed to credit the Chronicle's reporting).
Way back on 2 September, the Houston Press posted that a change in UH's book-loan policy was forcing students to buy books at the offical university bookstore, as opposed to the off-campus College Store. Today, KTRK went to the campus to report further on the change. We can't say we're THAT surprised that the university would funnel book-loan proceeds towards its own bookstore.
In other news, we're pretty sure print media reported the mayoral candidates all exclaimed "me too!" at some gathering or another, and TV media presented audio/video confirmation of the "me too!" moments. But we're too lazy to track down those links tonight.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/16/09 11:00 PM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (1)
26 October 2007
Soccer stadium negotiations creep along
The Chronicle sport section's Bernardo Fallas checks in today on the Dynamo's downtown stadium negotiations:
Through the Dynamo, AEG is in the advanced stages of negotiating a public-private partnership with the city of Houston that would facilitate the construction of a 22,000-capacity, open-air facility just east of downtown and priced between $70 million to $80 million.
The agreement also would include the construction of a satellite public soccer complex and training facility likely to be located on the city's south side.
Both sides have indicated in recent weeks that a decision is expected by year's end, but Mayor Bill White warns there's still plenty of work to do.
"There remains a large number of unresolved issues," White said in a statement e-mailed to the Chronicle on Thursday. "However, both parties are optimistic that we can achieve a mutually satisfactory conclusion."
White would not elaborate on the loose ends, adding that at the present time "we do not plan to provide any answers to specific questions."
AEG and the Dynamo also declined to offer specifics. However, all signs point to the entertainment giant bearing the brunt of the stadium cost, an investment that likely would surpass $60 million.
The city would pony up the rest, although how it would finance its share remains unclear after White said earlier this year property taxes will not enter the equation.
AEG and the city also would partner in a public soccer complex at a proposed site about 7 miles south of the stadium along Texas 288 near Reed Road that would include practice facilities for the team.
"That's also part of our discussions with the city," Dynamo president Oliver Luck said.
[snip]
Besides the city figuring out how to fund its share of the proposed agreement, a key aspect that might be pushing back a decision is the issue of a site for the stadium.
The Dynamo first set sights on land owned by the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority just east of Minute Maid Park and U.S. 59, but have since decided against the property, which the Astros lease for stadium parking.
"We know for a fact (the property) is no longer being considered," said Sports Authority head Kenny Friedman, who added that the Sports Authority is not actively involved in the negotiations.
The team might be looking to purchase private land near the same general area as the county-owned property, although Luck declined to confirm or deny it, saying only that a downtown venue is still planned.
It hasn't helped that negotiations have lasted longer than expected.
The Dynamo and the city began formal talks in May and hoped to have a concrete plan of action by mid-July.
"Any stadium discussions take lots of turns and twists," Luck said.
But even a substantial delay will be well worth it if something positive comes out of it, players said.
Manhattan wasn't built in a day, after all!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/26/07 08:03 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (7)
15 April 2005
Rick Casey's not in favor of sunshine for the Sports Authority
Rick Casey devoted his column today to Billy Burge's on-air meltdown from last week:
Mark Twain, Abraham Lincoln and Samuel Johnson left no record of their feelings on the use of their tax money to subsidize millionaire athletes and owners. The only reason, I suspect, is that in their times taxpayers didn't build extravagant playgrounds for rich owners of sporting teams.
There were no such government entities as the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority, which is sucking wind as it tries to pay off more than $900 million worth of bonds for the city's new football, baseball and basketball palaces.
But all three are credited with advice that would have well served Billy Burge, a successful real estate developer who serves as the Sports Authority's chairman.
The advice? "It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt."
Casey got THAT part right, but he went downhill from there. Here's how Casey framed the interview/call-in:
The venue: Dan Patrick's ultra-conservative radio talk show.
The opponent: His predecessor as Sports Authority chairman, Jack Rains.
It's hardly a new fight. Rains, a Republican politico who was Orlando Sanchez's campaign manager back in 2001, made no secret during that race that he would work to scuttle the authority if Sanchez beat Mayor Lee Brown.
Not that sour grapes were involved, but it was Brown that replaced Rains with Burge.
So when, last week, a friend called Burge on his cell phone out in San Francisco and told him Rains was on the air trashing him and the authority, Burge called in to take on Rains and Patrick.
The problem with Casey's column becomes apparent with this sentence:
In 23 minutes, not a single substantive fact was revealed.
Aha. Of course, those of us who listened to the whole show last week know that's not true at all. In the previous 20-30 minutes of Patrick's show, Rains gave listeners plenty of facts relating to the Sports Authority, and not in a mean-spirited, sour-grapes way. That's why Burge's call-in was so incredible. Burge came on attacking Patrick and Rains when there was no basis for it.
Out of curiosity, I emailed Casey asking if he had listened to the entire show or just the mp3 on Lone Star Times. He replied, promptly, saying that he had only listened to the mp3. I wrote back explaining that there was more to the show and sent him my write-up to show that Patrick's show had been informative and not angry and accusing, until Burge called in. He kindly responded again, saying that his column was only about Burge's call-in.
Well, okay. But the context of the previous part of the show is key to the whole issue.
Here's how Casey ends his column:
It was bad enough that when Sports Authority Executive Director Oliver Luck heard a replay Monday morning, he felt the need to invite himself on Patrick's show to counter " a couple of things Jack said that were flat-out untrue."
"I'd be the first to admit Billy didn't handle himself very well," Luck said.
Burge didn't disagree.
"I shouldn't have done it," he said. "It was one of those things that tees you off, and I responded to that."
The good news, Luck said, is they received only four e-mail messages generated by the show.
"On a bad parking day at Reliant, we get 15 or 20," he said.
So no great harm. Just keep Billy in the back room.
I listened to Oliver Luck on Monday with Patrick, and I am trying to remember what Luck corrected. If he really did correct something, it had to have been fairly minor, and in fact, Luck didn't do much for the Sports Authority's case to remain open.
I guess Casey doesn't mind the Sports Authority staying in business, making odd deals and frittering away taxpayer dollars. He also seems to be encouraging the Sports Authority to keep Burge in his little hidey-hole, away from public scrutiny.
Which is interesting since Casey often rails against secrecy, and since I thought the Chronicle was in favor of more government sunshine.
RELATED: Better late than never, we guess (Lone Star Times)
UPDATE: Jack Rains was on with Dan Patrick today repsonding to Casey's column. He wondered if Casey had heard the entire interview and emailed him to ask. We already know, since I did the same, that Casey did not. Rains also reacted to the part of Casey's column where he says that Oliver Luck went on Patrick's show to correct some things that Rains had gotten wrong. He too wondered what those things were. Rains says he didn't have his facts wrong, and as I said above, I can't recall any point that Luck corrected.
Rains also said that he was never contacted by Casey for the column. Since Casey does have quotes from Luck and Burge, that tells us plenty about Casey's point of view -- he was helping Burge and the Sports Authority with damage control.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ Sports Authority"> 04/15/05 10:15 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
11 April 2005
Billy Burge mp3 available at LST; Oliver Luck on damage control duty
Lone Star Times has posted the mp3 of the Billy Burge call-in from last Friday.
Also, Oliver Luck will be appearing on KSEV-700 at 4:40 this afternoon with Dan Patrick -- no doubt doing some damage control. We can guess Billy Burge is in the Sports Authority dog house.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 04/11/05 04:28 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (14)
13 October 2009
Bloomberg: Souring stadium bond deal could squeeze area taxpayers
Bloomberg dropped an ominous story about Houston today. Here's an excerpt from the report by Darrell Preston, Edward Klump and Aaron Kuriloff:
Harris County-Houston Sports Authority, which built the Texas city's 71,500-seat National Football League stadium, may need to refinance $1 billion in debt and pay as much as $142 million ahead of schedule on bonds and interest-rate swaps.
The agency, operator of Reliant Stadium for the NFL's Texans, must pay $117 million over the next five years after JPMorgan Chase & Co. demanded accelerated retirement of variable-rate bonds due in November 2030, said J. Kent Friedman, the authority chairman. UBS AG may also get $25 million to unwind a swap designed to offset rising interest rates. The extra costs will push higher annual debt service by $20 million to at least $83.7 million in 2011 from $62.3 million this year.
"This is like suddenly having to pay a 30-year mortgage in five years," Friedman, a Houston-based partner in the law firm of Kelly, Hart & Hallman, said in a phone interview.
Even though pols continue to promise that taxpayers won't ever be on the hook for any shortfalls, that is starting to sound like real money to us!
One month ago, the Chronicle's Bradley Olson warned of the possibility of this outcome:
JP Morgan's obligation to provide liquidity - essentially act as a temporary holder of the bonds - expires soon. At that point, the 30-year bonds will be converted to a loan that must be paid off in five years, requiring the sports authority to pay $12 million every six months. Emmett and Mayor Bill White were unable to persuade JP Morgan to hold off on requiring payment for a year.
The magnitude of that payment would trigger an obscure provision of the financing arrangement, requiring the county to pay $2 million every six months from parking fees collected at Reliant Stadium. The debt service on the bonds currently is paid from revenues generated by the hotel occupancy tax, motor vehicle rental fees, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, the Houston Texans and other Reliant complex events.
Edwin Harrison, the county's director of financial services, said the county would not use property tax revenues to make the $2 million payments, but he acknowledged the possibility that property taxes may have to be used to cover the $4 million yearly budget gap.
Taxpayers won't be on the hook... well, they kinda will be, but not really. *wink* Got it?
So far as we can tell, the Chronicle hasn't followed up today on its original story.
There is a very nice profile of Gene Locke in today's newspaper, however, describing him as "a consummate deal-maker, who has had a hand in just about every headline-grabbing step taken by local government the past decade: Three new sports stadiums, annexation of Kingwood, light rail, Houston Independent School District and Harris County redistricting, Houston Community College System expansion."
Rah rah rah, three cheers for the consummate deal-maker!
Sorry, the Chron's selection of the "cheerleader voice" for their series of mayoral profiles got us overly excited.
Anyway, questions have already been raised about consummate deal-maker Gene Locke's ties to the Sports Authority (and to METRO). Maybe it's time for him to start answering some of those questions. Because as mayor, Locke would be in a much stronger position to consummate deals that may just turn out badly for the City of Houston.
BLOGVERSATION: Texas Watchdog, Bay Area Houston.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/13/09 09:36 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (9)
07 March 2005
Is the Chronicle going to push for a Houston Parking Authority?
Here are the first paragraph and the last paragraph from today's Move It! column. See if red flags start flying for you:
Last week's debacle with commercial vehicle loading zones has reinforced my view that downtown parking illustrates all that's wrong with municipal government.
[snip]
The mayor's office has been plotting reform of Parking Management. Next week we'll review the plans to revamp how the city handles street parking.
Uh oh. Has Lucas Wall been chatting with Mayor White? Let me guess what parking reform means: a Houston Parking Authority.
We already have unaccountable government authorities to deal with, such as METRO, the Harris County Toll Road Authority, and the Houston Sports Authority. METRO is currently dealing with its first ever debt, the Houston Sports Authority had to issue new bonds to deal with a revenue shortfall, and the Toll Road Authority, which apparently has no debt or revenue shortage issues, does have a surprising ability to build roads at will, regardless of community input.
Now let's take a look at parking authorities in other cities and how they are structured. Miami has one:
Posted by Anne Linehan @ Authority?"> 03/07/05 09:14 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (3)
16 November 2005
Will the San Jose Earthquakes become the Houston Hurricanes?
Sports Authority CEO Oliver Luck is readying the champagne as Houston appears to be one step closer to getting a Major League Soccer team:
Major League Soccer announced Tuesday that it has cleared the way for the San Jose Earthquakes to relocate to one of a number of potential cities, with Houston the likely destination.
League commissioner Don Garber said in a prepared statement that the MLS Board of Governors granted approval to the Anschutz Entertainment Group, owner of the Earthquakes, to relocate the franchise. The decision came at a meeting Saturday in Frisco, site of the MLS Cup.
Houston is the only city specifically mentioned by Garber as a possible new home.
"In order to ensure the team will have the appropriate time to prepare for the 2006 season, a final decision on the location of the team will be reached within the next 30 days," Garber said.
[snip]
MLS spokesman Simon Borg said the league will have no comment on the situation until AEG reaches a decision.
AEG's request was made because attempts to secure a buyer in San Jose have failed.
The company purchased the franchise � a charter member of MLS � from the league in 2002 and has reportedly invested about $20 million without earning a return.
"We stepped in and took over the team three years ago," said Leiweke. "For three years we've been trying to find an ownership group (in San Jose). That's unfortunate. That said, we've made more progress in the last few months in Houston than we did in the last three years in San Jose."
The news is encouraging to Harris County-Houston Sports Authority head Oliver Luck, who has been involved in efforts to land a soccer franchise for more than a year.
"It's clearly an important step," Luck said. "From our perspective, it's validation for what a great sports town Houston has become."
One more thing to check off the world-class to-do list? We just have to be getting closer.
Do you think an MLS team will be able to pay for their own turf or will the Sports Authority offer to pay for it?
Laurence Simon wonders why Reliant Stadium isn't being named as a probable venue for an MLS team. The answer could be in a Soccer Times story from July:
[...]the league [MLS] has been stymied for some time trying to find a place to play. Reliant Stadium, where the National Football League's Houston Texans play, was looked at, but its ownership did not want to become MLS franchise owners at this time, nor did it want to become landlord.
And let's not forget that San Antonio recently rejected an MLS franchise opportunity because the city would have taken a financial beating:
And what happened in San Antonio? Well, in April the cost of bringing a soccer team to San Antonio skyrocketed from $6 million to more than $20 million. And then this month, talks completely collapsed, apparently due to financial concerns -- including MLS's plan to use the Alamodome rent-free.
I certainly hope whatever deal Luck and Mayor White are negotiating with MLS doesn't soak Houston/Harris County taxpayers...too badly. There's no doubt there'll be some soaking. That seems to be the nature of these deals.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/16/05 10:25 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (12)
05 January 2006
Slampo: Chron's celebration of Luck continues
Slampo isn't impressed with the Chronicle's ongoing series on Oliver Luck, the new chief of Houston's Major League Soccer franchise:
A Houston Chronicle sportswriter was at it again this morning, filing the paper’s latest installment in its episodic hagiography of Oliver Luck, the former CEO of the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority turned president of the city’s new Major League Soccer franchise. This one, by the paper’s soccer writer, Glenn Davis, appeared under the headline “Team president faces a hectic spring” and as far as we could discern contained no new information (musta been a slow week in local soccer news, what with the big Necaxa vs. Cruz Azul game packing ’em in at Reliant Stadium ).
There's lots more on Luck, the Guardian Angels, and the local media here. As always, it's a fun read.
The Chronicle story to which Slamo is referring is here.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/05/06 09:13 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
27 September 2004
Taxpayers shouldn't have to fund the Astrodome hotel
In Monday's Chronicle, the editors tell us they think the proposal to turn the Astrodome into a hotel is a good one, as long as the taxpayers don't have to pay for it:
The Harris County Astrodome must be preserved, but not at extravagent [sic] cost to the taxpayer while private investors and contractors profit.
[snip]
A private company, Astrodome Redevelopment Corp., has proposed to remodel the Dome into a 1,000-room convention hotel and entertainment complex. The plan hinges on a detailed analysis of potential profitability. The company is asking that hotel taxes generated by the project be used to defray the construction cost.
It is good to see the editors take this stand, although with the Chronicle's relentless advocacy for Metro's light rail, it was unknown which side they would take.
There is one sentence, however, that is worthy of a bit more attention:
Another crucial calculation to be made is whether diverting hotel taxes to pay for a huge hotel in the Astrodome would restrain or reduce the income stream of hotel taxes needed to pay for three new sports arenas and the city's convention center hotel.
The Harris County-Houston Sports Authority had to issue new bonds in August to make up for a shortfall in hotel tax revenue:
The new bonds were needed to make up for declining hotel and car rental tax revenues, which the authority receives to pay off bond debt. In 2002 and 2003, the revenues sagged 10 percent.
To meet the annual payments for $900 million in previously issued bonds, the authority had projected annual 3 percent increases in hotel and car rental tax revenues.
"September 11 came and the recession came, and the hotel and car rental taxes have not been growing 3 percent. They're declining," said Oliver Luck, sports authority executive director.
So we already know that hotel tax revenues are not what earlier projections said they would be. The Chronicle editors should have mentioned that.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 09/27/04 01:32 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
16 November 2009
Slampo does the work of (nonexistent?) Chron editors
SLAMPO posts more about that Sunday Chron story on the soccer stadium and mayoral candidates, noting several problems with the reporting:
1) Gene Locke was never chairman of the Sports Authority (an error that has not been corrected by the newspaper as of this morning).
2) The story didn't bother to report that Dynamo ownership have donated to Gene Locke's campaign.
3) Houston's expert-on-everything, Bob Stein, apparently must always be quoted by the newspaper.
Further to (3), here's a helpful hint to local journos/editors: When a sentence quoting a nonessential source begins, "As Rice University political science professor Robert Stein (who discloses that his son-in-law works for Locke) pointed out..," find another source. It really is that simple.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/16/09 08:16 AM | General | Technorati | Comments (3)
24 June 2005
Chron's reader rep is blogging!
What a wonderful Friday afternooon surprise:
When I recently mentioned to a Chronicle colleague that I soon would be writing a blog titled About:Chron, he joked: "It's about time."
Yes, it is.
But more precisely, it's about the Houston Chronicle.
I've been the Chronicle's readers' representative for three years. During that time, I have received tons of interesting and fascinating questions and ideas from readers. Common questions relate to the weather page, redesign of the newspaper, bias, comics, sports coverage, politics and photos.
We appreciate it, even the complaints. The feedback helps us to understand and better serve you.
About:Chron will be an extension of that communication.
Also there's a new nightlife blog, called "bar tab."
KEVIN WHITED ADDS: At the start of the year, we threw out some suggestions for improving the Chronicle. Here's #2:
The reader rep should have more authority and more impact
One can't help but suspect that the job of reader rep/ombudsman at most newspapers -- and certainly the Chronicle -- is a thankless task, for the person must take all sorts of grief from readers, without possessing any real power to fix any but the most egregious problems/errors.
That's unacceptable. We think Jeff Cohen should boost James T. Campbell's authority considerably at the newspaper, and give him a regular column (or even better, a blog) to address reader concerns and criticisms.
I've had a fair number of email conversations with Campbell about problems this blog has found at the newspaper, and he's been professional and responsive. That said, the newspaper would probably benefit if that process were much more transparent. To that end, Campbell should have a column and blog where he regularly addresses reader complaints, and the Chronicle's responses (because sometimes, reader complaints are not legitimate).
The Chronicle deserves credit for this smart move.
Welcome to the blogosphere, Mr. Campbell!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 06/24/05 07:07 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (4)
30 June 2005
Major League Soccer in the Astrodome?
How does Mayor White do it? He just got finished dreaming up a new $2 billion expansion plan for Metro and today we learn that he's been busy working on getting a Major League Soccer team in Houston:
The Astrodome might recover some of its faded glory if a Mexican club interested in bringing a professional soccer franchise to Houston has its way.
Club América, the Mexican First Division franchise that hopes to bring a Major League Soccer team to the Bayou City, has told city and county officials it would like its prospective Houston club to play at the former home of the Astros and Oilers. Officials with the Mexico City-based team, which is looking to buy MLS' San Jose Earthquakes from the Anschutz Entertainment Group and relocate it to Houston, met this week with Mayor Bill White and officials with the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority and the Harris County Sports and Convention Corp.
[snip]
Club América officials met with White on Monday to discuss a potential move and its impact, city spokesman Frank Michel confirmed.
"The city is optimistic that the talks have been ongoing for some time. We have a lot of details to work out," Michel said. "The market here for sports in general but also for soccer is a potentially huge one, and I think soccer folks recognize that."
Well, yes. If there's one thing Mayor White is filled with (be nice now) it's optimism for Houston. And when city officials are filled with optimism, that generally means BIG tax bills for its citizens. All that optimism doesn't come cheap.
You'll notice that this story fails to mention who will pay for the Astrodome to be made soccer-ready. But don't worry, I have it ALL figured out: Mayor White is planning on taxpayers giving him $2 billion for his new Metro plan, right? Well, who'll notice if a stray $20 million slips through the cracks? These things happen all the time. Besides the Astrodome is at the end of the downtown rail line. I'm sure the mayor can tie it all together and sell it.
This is definitely world-class!
UPDATE: Here's Laurence Simon's take.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 06/30/05 10:26 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (5)
16 June 2005
Metro's holding board meetings today
I check Metro's "Meetings and Notices" page frequently (just like the Sports Authority) and it has been empty. Well, today a whole slew of board meetings are listed, with some interesting topics. For example, during the 1 p.m. regular board meeting, look at this eye-opener scheduled to be discussed:
6. Rescind current METRO Policy of "pay as you go" and adopt new Board "Debt Policy"
Wow! That one items tells us so much about Metro's current (and future) condition. But there's more:
8. Authority to negotiate a line of credit with JP Morgan Chase for $59 Million with a one-year duration (to provide liquidity to meet current obligation pending receipt of FY2005 Section 5307 Formula grant already appropriated by Congress).
[snip]
10. Authority to establish a Commercial Paper Program
Now, I'm just a mom trying to raise her kids, but I can Google, and when I Google "commerical paper program" I see references to short-term notes, used to raise funds.
And do you think that line of credit with JP Morgan Chase is to cover for money Metro expects to receive in the future? It sounds like it.
Also, a public hearing on a state performance audit of Metro will be held on June 30, 2005 at 12 noon. That sounds intriguing.
UPDATE: A friend of blogHOUSTON emails the Wikipedia entry for "commercial paper":
Commercial paper is a short-term unsecured debt trading as a security issued by large banks and corporations. It is generally used not to finance major projects but rather is used for purchases of inventory or to manage short term cash flow. It is commonly bought by Money market funds (the issuing amounts are often too high for individual investors), and is generally regarded as a very safe investment. As a relatively low risk option returns are not large.
Because commercial paper maturities don't exceed nine months and proceeds typically are used only for current transactions, the notes are exempt from registration as securities with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.
UPDATE 2: I am wondering if this is the Section 5307 funding Metro is waiting on (referred to in the agenda above).
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 06/16/05 08:55 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (5)
11 April 2005
Jack Rains on with Edd Hendee
Edd Hendee (KSEV-700) is interviewing Jack Rains right now about the Sport Authority. Rains is really a fountain of good information about that governmental entity.
UPDATE: Something interesting Rains mentioned is how he has learned, through his years of public service, that there is a large subset of people and companies from the private sector that subsist on taxpayer dollars and therefore have a huge interest in keep governmental entities in business, with tax dollars flowing.
Tom Kirkendall has highlighted this point before in relation to Metro:
[...] why do voters continue to approve new taxes for the construction and expansion of light-rail systems?
One economic reason is that the benefits of light rail are highly concentrated, while the costs are widely dispersed. The direct benefits of a light-rail project can be quite large for a relatively small group of people, such as elected officials, environmental groups, labor organizations, engineering and architectural firms, developers and regional businesses, which often campaign vigorously for the passage of light-rail funding.
[snip]
Proponents of light rail argue that it will create jobs, foster economic development and boost property values. While there is some academic evidence of these benefits, it is important to realize that they are not free to society—light rail is kept afloat by taxpayer-funded subsidies that amount to hundreds of millions of dollars each year.
Billy Burge gave us this argument last Friday -- that Houston sees a benefit by having the Sports Authority subsidize a parking garage and the ice the Aeros skate on.
It's maddening, especially when homeowners in Texas are getting cremated by property tax increases.
MORE: And, as Edd Hendee just pointed out, Houston has the nation's highest rental car tax disparity as we pointed out recently, and has very high hotel taxes, which probably doesn't help Jordy Tollett as he tries to get conventions booked for Houston.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 04/11/05 08:15 AM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (0)
17 March 2006
The process of sunshine in government
The Chronicle's Lisa Viator writes an interesting story today, about how an entity -- in this case HISD -- handles open records requests:
"The public information request process is a valuable way to disseminate information, and also takes an enormous amount of time and resources," district spokesperson Terry Abbott said. "But at any time and for anybody who makes a request, it is incumbent on us to go and find that information."
Such was the case when the Houston Chronicle made a public records request last month for Superintendent Abelardo Saavedra's salary and compensation information. It was made as part of a survey of school superintendent salaries in conjunction with Sunshine Week, a national program that underscores the importance of open public records.
That's odd. Why wouldn't this story say what an earlier editorial said: that the requests were filed by students on behalf of the Chronicle?
The request was one of hundreds the district receives each year.
Abbott said it wouldn't be an exaggeration to calculate in the thousands the number of hours spent investigating public information requests. Understandably, periods of information request influx tend to coincide with network television sweeps in February, May and November each year, he said.
And HISD is routinely a target during sweeps.
According to district records, during the 2004-05 school year — the latest on which district number crunchers have firm statistics — 870 public information requests were filed.
The general public tallied first in those, filing in person or asking via e-mail or fax for 671 open records requests.
Houston media outlets were the second most requesting entities, filing 92 requests; education unions made 68 requests and the remaining 39 requests were spread out among schools, non-Houston media, government, military as well as one lone request categorized as other organizations.
Now, if we could just get local media to use the open records request process to look at Metro, City Hall, HPD, the Sports Authority, the Parking Authority...
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/17/06 06:17 AM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (1)
25 May 2005
Houston needs to focus on the right quality-of-life issues
Tory Gattis of Houston Strategies highlights Joel Kotkin's new work, " Urban Legends: Cities Aren't Doing As Well As You Think":
Cities must return to a progressive focus on fixing their real problems--that is, the problems of the majority of the people who live there--not serving the interests of artists, hipsters, and their wealthy patrons. Right now school reform is often hostage to the power of teachers' unions. City budgets, which could be applied to improving economic infrastructure, are frequently bloated by, among other things, excessive public sector employment and overgenerous pensions. In the contest for the remaining public funds, the knitted interests of downtown property holders, arts foundations, sports promoters, and nightclub owners often overwhelm those of more conventional small businesses and family-oriented neighborhoods that could serve as havens for the middle class.
And Tory says:
To be honest, I actually think Houston is doing many of the right things he's talking about. Yeah, we have gotten caught up in some of the glitz: stadiums, convention centers, a hip downtown - but we've also been pretty diligent on improving infrastructure and education.
Actually, we are seeing the local teachers union (assisted by activist groups and the local newspaper) throw up every road block imaginable to Dr. Saavedra's reform ideas for HISD. In the case of Gayle Fallon's group, LULAC and the NAACP, it's not about better education, it's about maintaining power.
As for the other interests Kotkin mentions, Houston has only temporarily "solved" its pension mess by moving it to the Houston Hilton-Americas, which isn't doing so hot; the downtown light rail ($320 million +) has been fueled at least partly by downtown property interests, including Metro's interests; and we have three ritzy new stadiums funded by taxpayers, with the Sports Authority yearning for at least one more.
As one of our commenters so ably put it recently, there are three things that will make a community desirable: good schools, low crime, and low taxes. Houston has many great amenities, but those big three are struggling.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/25/05 08:14 AM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (32)
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